Impetus

Today is one of those days where I can’t seem to make progress on anything.  I’ve got a significant presentation to tackle, but it’s in that bewildering stage of development where it’s just a bunch of big ideas.  Before the detail work can be done, I’ve somehow got to pick a direction, narrow the focus and organize my thoughts.  It calls for brainstorming exercises which I’m usually pretty good at, but for some reason while I’ve turned the key in the ignition several times, I’ve done no more than choke, sputter and gurgle to a meager start.  It leaves me thoroughly unmotivated and feeling a little worthless, having spent valuable time spinning my wheels with no results to show for it. What does it take to rev up the engine and make it purr?

Big goals leave us feeling like this sometimes, too.  It could be why so many of us have a hard time pulling our anchors out of the water and moving toward what we want. When the options are too broad, we can’t move at all.  But setting parameters sometimes feels like a prodigious exercise in itself.

I start by defining success.  How will I know I’ve achieved this goal to my satisfaction?  What will it look like and what will I feel like?  While it’s a step many of us are tempted to skip, what it does is provide the framework for scaling goals appropriately.  Put plainly, I need to know before I set out that I’m on the path to work for an outcome that will satisfy me.

I loved my sketching class at the Art Institute for the freedom the instructors invoked around artistic license.  They had a purpose with each drawing exercise, but deliberately made the rules as loose as possible to encourage thinking out of the box. With only a limited amount of time, they also wanted a way to jump start our creativity so we didn’t spend the whole class afraid to put the pencil to paper.  We spent several classes working in front of a single painting of our choosing.  Mine was Kandinsky’s Improvisation No. 30. A large work, we were encouraged to choose only a small portion if it felt overwhelming in its entirety or did not serve our purpose as a whole.

This concept can be applied to attacking our goals also.  Releasing ourselves from the obligation to boil the ocean, look under every rock or please everyone in sight, can be just the catalyst we need to get to what we really want.  It also protects us from the apathy that sets in when the task in front of us looms so large we’re at risk of not even trying. 

Gauging goals against success metrics paves the way to taking action. When the goal starts to look achievable and you can picture yourself basking in your desired outcome, it begins to take on an energy of its own. The focus that’s needed to start acting on the goal should be visible, clearing the way to move forward.

If it still looks muddy, a break is never a bad thing.  It seems pretty obvious, but mapping out big goals doesn’t usually happen overnight.  Things may not come together as easily as you think, but that doesn’t make you a failure.  A lot has been written about the power of the brain to sort out ideas and find clarity when we’re occupied with something else. 

For me, stopping to write this blog has proven to be just the diversion I needed to get my thoughts in order and decide how to move forward with my project.  I’m going to put my success metrics in place, build an agenda for my presentation, and send it to the meeting organizer for review.

But not until after I clear my head with an evening run.